piaptk

I love floating action. Was just hanging out with Seth yesterday at his place in Black Mountain, NC while we were driving between MobileVinylRecorders.com gigs in New Oreleans and Charlotte, NC (where our gigs are this weekend).

Well, in our case, here is the thinking (and depending on how you read it, might sound defensive, but it's not... it's something I've thought/talked about a lot in the last week or two):1) this label was started with two releases that didn't sell out for months, and 1/3 of the first three STILL hasn't sold out. and it's not like this was a 3 second sell out. It took almost 72 hours before these were gone, and it was posted on this board (twice) within the first couple of hours of being on sale. 2) Scott approached us about doing "IT" because he liked the limited and weird handmade vibe, and because my partner in the label is Dimitri, his bandmate in Dr. Dog. He didn't necessarily want to release this album as a full length, "proper" album, mostly because it was old and had already been partially used for other things. 3) The whole "limited, never repressed, and no digital" philosphy is not because we want to deprive the world of anything, or jack up prices, it's because artists like Scott or Grandaddy (who are the next one), would NEVER release something with us if we WERENT limited and somewhat gimmicky. Their labels and managers wouldn't allow it either. 4) We feel your pain. It's not fun for us to invest $2300 in expenses plus LITERALLY 80-100 man hours of assembly and production (we have 4-5 hour packing parties that take 15-20 people to put those damn things together) to make $3000 gross. So we make a whopping $700 in profit (which (hopefully) just pays for the records that don't sell out, or the beer and snacks for the packing party.) while somebody else takes a $20 investment and makes 1000% profit on it for really zero work. 5) we don't want to be a "business" record label and take it seriously... because that involves way too many artistic compromises and money investment. "Will this band "move units"?", "How can we maximize placement?", "How much $$$ should we be dedicating to marketing/radio/digital", "How can we "maximize the buzz", etc. We just want to make fun stuff for bands that we love. I would rather work my ass off with 5 jobs (which I do) and not have to care about whether an artist will "recoup" if I want to release their record. And almost nobody buys anything I release except for the occasional release like this for a higher profile artist. We don't intentionally limit things. It's just sort of the nature of the beast in some ways. This record was an extreme example, and I'm sure the Grandaddy one coming in a couple months will be even worse. But, next time I'll put up a thing that says "Hey, if you don't want to own this record, please don't buy it just to flip it immediately. If you do, just know, we think you are kind of a jerk for buying something that somebody else would love to own and then making them pay 10 times as much for it". That might not actually work, but at least maybe they will think about it. Also, I tracked down about 75% of the flippers on ebay and discogs (the ones I could find) for the McMicken record and removed them from my email list so they will at least not have early notice of upcoming things.

Stupid and Gimmicky is our middle name. In addition to our six sided record (already mentioned) Here is a 4 sided disc I did for Joyful Noise And one I'm about to release for Money Mark (Beastie Boys) and Patrick Keeler (Raconteurs/Greenhornes). And of course, the CD-Record Series And these are pretty neat.. each one is unique... we hand-cut away the protective plastic in the shape of the band name with an exacto and peeled it away and then my 4-year old daughter and I psychedelic painted them. And the Golden Boots X-Ray 7"s (Done BEFORE that OTHER guy did his, by the way) And the This Frontier Needs Heroes Pyramid Shaped picture disc lathe cut: And I did a run of records made out of Picnic Plates: And some 4x5" sets inside hand bound and foiled, silkscreened, etc readers digest books.

And, just in case anyone is a Grandaddy fan, Soild Gold - 000005 will be their legendary practical joke album Arm of Roger - The Ham and It's Lily. Same stats, only 200 copies available! Only time it's ever been on vinyl...

This is a totally legit album, not as full band style as a Dr Dog release, but not a weird lo-fi dude with a guitar four track tape either. Sounds great, very clean, nice, but sparse, instrumentation... If you like Scott's songs, you will love this record. The reason it was unreleased until now is because Scott is under contract to Anti-, who was busy releasing pretty steady Dr. Dog releases, and didn't want to muddy the Dr Dog water with a Scott solo record, and they DEFINITELY didn't want any other label to muddy their waters either. But, because Dimitri from Dr. Dog owns Soild Gold, and because we don't do any digital, represses, and limit it to 250 total LPs including artist copies, Anti- gave us the "keep it on the DL and we won't stop you" go ahead. Soild Gold never streams anything. We don't do any digital of any kind. It's just part of our model. We do it like the bootleggers did in '75... and they didn't stream anything or include digital downloads, so neither we. :-) There are only 6 LPs left as of right now. This dude put up a spotify playlist that has a few of the songs that were pieced out for bonus tracks: http://slyvinyl.com/singer-songwriter/scott-mcmicken-dr-dog-limited-250-goldenrod-vinyl-lp-w-35-randomly-inserted-redyellow-splatter-vinyl

PIAPTK is excited to announce that we have partnered with one of our favorite labels, Joyful Noise Recordings! And I have been hired by JNR as Creative Director. This means an additional platform for the freaky, weird, packaging and vinyl formatting that you have come to know and love from PIAPTK. With that comes huge budget increases, more time that can be allotted to research and development, increased exposure, and collaboration of ideas that will allow both labels to really expand, artistically, and continue to push the boundaries of physical media. It also means wider distribution for our pressed vinyl releases and additional exposure for our family of artists. PIAPTK has always existed for two reasons: 1) to serve as an outlet for my own brand of conceptual art and 2) to attempt to bring the amazing music that my friends are making to wider audiences. And this partnership will be a huge leap forward in that evolution. If you are not already familiar with Joyful Noise, they are an incredible label based in Indianapolis, that has released records for many of my (and probably your) favorite artists. Half Japanese, Sebadoh, David Yow, Don Caballero, Deerhoof, WHY?, and countless artists through their flexi singles subscription series. In an industry that is mostly known for shady business practices and exploitation of artists, Joyful Noise is transparent, honest, and very straight forward with their fans and their bands. Their creative approach and attention to the tiniest details of their releases, has always been an inspiration to me, and I can’t wait to bring my own weird touch to their operation. You will probably begin seeing my fingerprints on many of their releases very soon. In the meantime, please go check out www.JoyfulNoiseRecordings.com to see all the great things they are doing right now! Thanks as always! Michael Dixon PIAPTK.com Tucson, AZ

Here is a video one of my customers made of a CD-Record I made for them, for those who are curious about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLKpUx49wcs#t=65

Today is the last day to get any of these in the pre-pre-order stage. I'll be making them unavailable until the official release date in November, after the PR campaign has launched. http://piaptk.limitedrun.com/products/535023-pre-pre-order-cd-record-series-digital-analog-hybrid-discs

These will not harm your needle. I drop test (up down up down) and play records through all day long, in two shifts, so, literally 12 hours a day, playing these and my polycarbonate cuts, and I only have to replace my needle once a year or so, and that is with the needle being physically dropped onto the disc 200+ times a day. Polycarbonate is no harder than PVC, and the playback needle doesn't know the difference anyway... it's not trying to cut anything, it's just skating over the top of a plastic... Your tonearm weight and anti-skate should really set pretty light and neutral anyway for best life from your needle. These are lathe cut, vs. pressing, but they sound pretty damn good for lathe cuts (CDs use a very high quality polycarbonate), and I've gotten much better tracking results... still no guarantee for really shitty old players or $60 crosleys, but I test them on those too, and don't have many problems.

Hello everyone, I've got a new series of CD/Vinyl Hybrid singles that I call CD-Records. They play on your turntable and in your CD Player. Same song in analog and digital format. Available as a set or individually. Includes a custom center-spindle adapter. I'm releasing 50 of each (they are all limited to 100-300 copies) ahead of the official pre-order to try to gauge interest in the lesser known artists before my PR campaign launches later this month. The line up is pretty incredible, in my opinion. Scott Mcmicken (Dr. Dog), Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Circulatory System, Little Wings, Wooden Wand, Simon Joyner, Money Mark (Beastie Boys), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), R Stevie Moore, Benoit Pioulard, Julian Gasc (Stereolab), Spaceface (mem of the Flaming Lips), The Blank Tapes, This Frontier Needs Heroes, Juston Stens, Great Lakes, Cory Gray, Briana Marela, Assateague, LABRYYYNTH, American Monoxide, Graves. www.PIAPTK.com

Well, of the 133 releases I've put out since 2006, 132 of them DON'T have these drawbacks, so it's safe to say that some of my other works in the future will not have them either. You can check out all 132 of my "not freaky" records at PIAPTK.com. Pressed records in handmade sleeves, handmade/stained/silkscreened wooden boxsets, see-through picture discs, X-Ray flexis, Hand bound books, etc etc. Almost all of them incorporate some sort of handmade art, and the vast majority are "practical players". And like I said, even these 6 siders play fine on every turntable I own (6 of them). If you've got some sort of weird turntable that has no clearance outside the platter, then, bummer. What model is it? When I google image "Turntable", there isn't a single one on the first page that looks like has too little clearance. https://www.google.com/search?q=turntable&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=gC_ZU6P9HpGDjAKGpoGYCw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg But for the present and the near future, I feel like getting freaky. So, you can expect even more weird "borderline practical" art pieces with music that people may or may not like in the very near future. All this is typed with love and a smile on my face. I love what I do, regardless of what anyone else thinks, but I appreciate the feedback from those that don't love it or understand it. It helps me to streamline my art and message so that it has the smallest chance of being misunderstood... but, even a message that is properly relayed is not always warmly received.

Here is the sound collage composition that makes up the record... https://soundcloud.com/piaptkshop/american-monoxide-great-six-sider

No reason to get so aggro there, Farts. This record's existence is not an affront to you on a personal level. It's an art project, but is very practical within it's own purpose, which you may or may not find practical to your own life... To misquote Ian Svenonius "Art ain't for everyone". It is a neat idea, but the execution is not flawed. It is the way it is for several reasons. 1. It requires extra clearance because of the nature of the off-set holes. Without the extra clearance, the pattern of holes wouldn't work, and as you can see in the photo, the grooves narrowly miss the holes at every point. Technically, you really only need 1/2 inch (or less) on most turntables. Each record is a little but different and I was just being a little on the safe side in the video. They play fine on every dj turntable I own. Why the hell would you buy this? I don't know... Apparently you aren't going to... but thats ok, Farts... I won't take it personally. 2. Due to the overlapping grooves, some of the rings make a weird chirping sound. That sound might get kind of annoying if it happened twice every 1.8 seconds in an actual song. So, Dimitri wrote a sound collage composition with the chirp in mind and uses it as a beat. 3. Due to the handmade nature of the drilled holes, and the fact that the holes keep getting in the way of the groove, each ring is going to fit music of variable lengths, and not more than a couple minutes per. Therefore, the music had to be suitable for being cut up anywhere and into any length. 4. The music IS just sounds. Cut and pasted sounds. There is a huge culture out there dedicated to noise, avant garde music and experimentalism. Some is great, some is downright awful and most falls somewhere in the middle. And two different people with different tastes will have completely opposite opinions about all of it. And that is ok. All in all, most people buy records for the artistry of vinyl. Sure, the fidelity can be better than digital (if you have a really incredible playback system and a superhuman ear), but there are a lot of more important (to me) reasons behind making/buying vinyl. The fact that it's a physical format, the artwork, the tangible interaction it requires, the way your collection describes your personality, etc. The things I make are an extension of myself. And not everyone "gets" me or understands why I do what I do. My normie coworkers didn't, my parents don't, and apparently you don't. It's ok. I still get along with my coworkers and my parents, and hopefully you, Farts. I don't understand why people like football, futball, or Miley Cyrus. But, what will be, will be, and what does it have to do with me? Shooby doobie doobie, weeeee! Plus, to quote Bob Dobbs "Fuck em if they can't take a joke..."